


By Your Hands

by Serpex



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Storm Hawks (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Character Death, De-Aged Levi Ackerman, Dragons, Family Member Death, Fluff, Kings & Queens, M/M, Minor Mikannie, Murder, Past, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Queen Annie Leonhardt, Queen Mikasa Ackerman, Royal Guard Eren Yeager, Royal Guard Levi Ackerman, Storm Hawks AU, Were-Creatures, former soldier, riren - Freeform, royal guard, weredragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28837683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpex/pseuds/Serpex
Summary: "Was it selfish of me to want him to stay? Maybe. But, I don’t know if I could bear it if he left. I wish he would hate me. It would make him harder to love."Ten years is a long time for someone like Levi. He can barely believe that Eren has chosen to stay with him for so long even if it had originally been against his will. He had long let Eren choose his path, but the young soldier stays. It's a blessing to Levi. And yet, he harbors a deep secret he doesn't know if Eren has realized or whether the young boy's memory has blocked it.Levi remembers though. And it's something that haunts him.Levi is the one who killed Eren's mother.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart
Kudos: 24





	By Your Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This is a strange some kind of steampunk fantasy and Storm Hawk AU. I don't really know to be honest. But, I had fun with it. It's a world where were-human hybrids and regular humans. Levi is a human, but Eren is a were-dragon. The setting takes place in the Storm Hawks universe AKA Atmos. Islands float and you need either a ship or a skimmer to get around. Skimmers are basically motorcycles that turn into quad-wing single-pilot jet planes. 
> 
> I HIGHLY recommend watching Storm Hawks to see them in action because it has such an amazing concept among fantasy shows and was one of my favorite shows growing up. The animation style is similar to like Dragon Booster or some of the old TMNT animated series. But, it's just awesome!
> 
> My alternate version is a kingdom where Mikasa and Annie are queens. Under them, Levi is a retired member of the royal guard, while Eren is a current member. Hange is male in this story and is also technically part of the royal guard, but is a scientist (for obvious reasons). I don't think there's anything else to say. I wrote this kind of for fun and for stress relief from college. Hope you guys enjoy ^^

A fowl taste lingered in the wind today. Dark clouds masked the horizon and would reach before night fell. With it, sharp needle rain would descend onto the city. In the research facility tower, Levi would be the first to feel its wrath. But, it wasn’t necessarily letting the rain in that he was afraid of.

“The air smells sweet. I like it,” Eren mused from behind him. I turned to face the blue and black weredragon following the scattered scales that were taking over his body with maturity. He had grown taller since the beginning and was quickly reaching his mid-twenties, a time when dragons would soon leave the nest. With a solemn hum, I pushed past the younger boy and plopped onto the bed of our shared room. Beneath the worn leather, old crackly straw strained and fell with my weight. Eren tilted his head before following me and taking his place next to me watching with concerned eyes. “You don’t like the storms?”

“I’m human, Eren. I’m also a former air force pilot for the royal guard. My place is in the clear air where I could see and fly with control. Flying into a storm is a death wish waiting to happen. If you didn’t die from turbulence, you’d die from the electricity ripping through your gears,” I groaned. “If you want to frolic in some piss from the sky, by all means, go right ahead. But, don’t you dare drag your sorry butt all covered with muck back in here.” A snort resonated behind me, the light mist hitting my back. I could tell he had turned toward the window, but he didn’t move even as the humidity of the air kept increasing.

In all honesty, part of me was waiting for him to leave. I wanted him to leave and never come back like he was meant to.

Seven years ago when I was still a star among the royal guard, a prodigy at age 21 who skipped the academy and was personally scouted by the commander to join the air force, a man who knew his way around the engines of the new developing skimmers, a monster that people feared, I was the first line of defense against our enemies. The hybrid humans were nothing we weren’t used to. They had long since integrated into society with us full-blooded humans. However, there were instances where those of mixed blood would become overcome by their instincts. They reverted back to their animalistic side.

We called them berzerkers, feral beings that would attack anyone be it human and non-human alike. We did not know the cause, nor did we care at the time. We only wanted to protect those we loved and those that fed us.

We had been wrong, so so so damn wrong.

Hange Zoe joined us only four years after me, ranked valedictorian of the academy, and had an inkling for berserker research. People feared his uncanny ability to pick apart people and throw together solutions that others were working on for years.

In short, he was a mad scientist.

He was the one who found out the berserkers were sick. There was a neurological issue found within three berzerkers that we had hazardously captured under his order. The hybrids had more complicated brains. After all, it was the union of two species. A unique nerve that was present in all of them gave the signal for their bodies to transform at will. However, it was found to be deteriorating where it connected from their brain to their body at the nape of their neck.

Thanks to Hange, they found they could treat it.

This whole time, we could have helped all of those people. We didn’t have to kill them. But, their blood was on our hands. We would carry that to our graves.

There was one person that I wish I had never killed. One berzerker we encountered had mowed down one of the villages towards the end of the kingdom’s isle. She was a great dragon with powerful claws and fire breathing in tow. All signs of humanity had long been abandoned. It was a long battle that left us with half as many as when we’d left the palace. Nearly all of our skimmers had been burned or ripped to shreds. Yet, when we finally turned to go home, there was a strange sensation. It felt like worms wriggling inside my chest. I told everyone who was still alive to go back ahead of me. I wanted to make one more final scouting session.

I dove off of the cliffside descending into the foggy abyss that haunted everything below civilization and there, hiding in a cave, was a flash of blue. I’d landed in disbelief, but it had been unmistakable. There was a boy wrapped inside that ragged blanket.

Eren Yeager, 15 years old, father passed away when he was nine, and now, his mother was gone too.

I don’t really know why I took him in. And truthfully, I don’t know why he hasn’t tried to kill me. I have no doubt that he knows the truth of his mother’s death, that we were the ones to take her life, that I had a huge part of taking the killing blow.

And yet, he stays.

Against the protests of multiple individuals along with clear opinions by our Empress Annie Leonhardt-Ackerman and Empress Mikasa Leonhardt-Ackerman, it was finally accepted that he could stay. Under my jurisdiction, I had permission to raise him as my protege. To my surprise, Eren adapted quite well. In the past ten years, he’d matured into a fine young man and handled himself quite well. I quit being in the service of the royal guard when I suffered a leg injury that kept me from steering straight. But, Eren was able to quickly take my place, perhaps even excelling. His ability to turn into a dragon made it even better if the skimmer malfunctioned, and he could still fight using his body. Despite having a short temper, his prowess for battle was unmatched.

Eventually, we moved into the research tower where Hange lived. Day after day, I helped with Hange’s experiment before joining Eren and talking about his day and finally ending the night with my arms entangled in his.

Was it selfish of me to want him to stay? Maybe. But, I don’t know if I could bear it if he left. I wish he would hate me. It would make him harder to love.

“You’re thinking too hard again,” Eren stated. He reached over and pressed the furrow out of my brow before pulling me to face him. “That wrinkle is going to permanently embed itself into your skin.”

“Oh, lay off, Yeager,” I scowled before closing my eyes. I could almost see that toothy grin through my eyelids.

“So, I’m Yeager now?”

“Shut up.”

“... What are you thinking about? You smell conflicted.” I jerked my eyes open and scooted away.

“Do not smell me.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he answered. “I could smell your discomfort from across the room. You’re radiating a murderous aura.”

“Doesn’t that say something?” I asked. The bed creaked as he stretched his limbs out, feet hanging slightly over the edge.

“You don’t scare me.”

“Many would disagree.” Eren paused and sat up staring out the window. He seemed relaxed, but my words weighed heavily on his mind.

“You’re not scary,” he concluded. “Even if you’re scary in the air, you’re not scary here. You’re just… a person. You’re you. Even if you’ve done things that would scar a person for life, you’re just another person here.”

“... You’re not making this sound any better. Besides, it’s not like I have a choice out there. I follow orders. You understand that as much as I do. After all, you’re in the same position I am now. Although… Your duties are much more tame in some ways.”

“I won’t deny that. There is certainly less meaningless bloodshed,” Eren venomously hissed. I shivered hearing his tone grow deep and rather off-putting. “You know, I feel like there’s something you should know, Levi.” As if his words were the tipping point, like boiling water seeping out of a kettle and trickling into a cold cup, the hiss of despair steamed into my ears. I dreaded what he would say next.

“What is it?” I nervously asked.

“... I have a feeling I know why you’re radiating such negative energy. It happens every time something like this happens,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“What do you mean something like this?”

“Moments when we’re alone,” he clarified. “It’s different than when we’re with Hange or when you’re observing me at the training barracks. You look like you’re staring past me, like there’s a ghost of your past whenever you look at me. Your words are different from your body. I never really knew why until I heard some interesting talk from some of the older soldiers who are still in service.”

“Did you now?”

“That’s correct.” His voice fell short for a moment as he took a deep breath. “I know what happened back then. I know you were the one who killed my mother.”

That little glass crystal hovering inside my heart shattered, a crack that spread and fell apart with a deafening truth.

“I see. You seem very calm about this.”

“Perhaps. But truthfully, I don’t have any resentment. Rather, I feel relieved. Mama told me something once. She said that she was sick, really sick. She said she could feel it getting worse. And she said it was the same thing her mother had gotten, and granpy before her.”

“What?” I sat up, shocked by Eren’s confession. “But, that means that it’s, it’s genetic?!”

“It would seem to be that way.”

“But, that’s means that, you, Eren, you—”

“There’s a high chance that I will get the same neurological disorder. Even if it is treatable, we don’t know what damage I’ll cause before that point. I don’t know if I’ll kill someone… I don’t think mama would want me to do the same thing she did, run away, stay away from everyone she loved, taking me away. So, for everyone else’s sake, I have a request, Levi. Dragons are powerful creatures, one of the strongest out there. If there’s a chance I become a berzerker, I want you to be the one to keep me at bay. Or if that isn’t possible—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Eren.”

“... It has to be said. If I can’t be left alive, I would be honored to die by your hands. Promise me.”

I couldn’t do that. I could never kill Eren. I could never replace his mother, nor would I ever give up the time I’ve spent with him in these past ten years. I can’t even think about life if he was gone forever. I couldn’t do it.

I would not kill him.

And yet, I could get those words in my heart out like I should have. He would never hear the truth, not while I was alive.

“If you go crazy on even a single person, I’ll beat your ass within an inch of your life. That, I guarantee,” I answered with an irritated tone. Eren laughed, a wholehearted sound from the angels above. Guilt buried itself deeper in my core, another grave of ten years digging. But, I wouldn’t let it get to the point that he would have to die. If it gave him closure to know I would be there, then that was enough for me.

Because if I couldn’t save you, I would rather be the one to die by your hands, Eren.

“The storm will be over in six hours.” Eren rolled back down onto the bed and curled closer to me. I slowly reached out and pulled him into me.

“You’re really going to stay the whole time?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he gleefully answered, tail slinking out from under his shirt and wrapping around my leg. “I’d rather stay here with you.”

“Heh. Alright then,” I smirked as I leaned into his scalp. “Don’t you dare kick me off the bed.”

“I would never dream of it. Good night, Levi.”

“Good night… Eren.”


End file.
